Status:
Rest and recovery day. Done nuffink of note.
Had a visit from our local councillor, the Labour candidate, accompanied by a bevvy of grandees: a mayor, two MPs, a baroness and a lord (admittedly the lord is our old MP - the current one is probably too busy climbing an arctic mountain or something (local in-joke)) so things are clearly getting serious. It’s going to be a tricky local election as she’s a great councillor, one of the rare ones who gets things done and sticks up for our interests. But Labour have bollixed their time running Birmingham as a whole, from the bin strikes to the bankruptcy farce, not to mention the nightmare in Downing Street. We’re such a safe seat here that she’d normally be a shoo-in but this year the Greens are in ascendency so progressives actually have a choice.
And to be honest, I don’t know how I’m going to vote. Party-wise, it’s clearly Green. But if she was standing as an independent I’m vote for the incumbent in a heartbeat. The hustings are on the 27th April and I think I’ll save up some battery to attend.
Reading:
- Lena Dunham on toxic fame, broken friendships and her ‘lost decade’ — I have so much time for Lena Dunham and very much enjoyed this interview.
- Midge Ure talks through the making of Ultravox’s iconic Vienna — Since I was a wee kid when this was all over the dial I just assumed this is what pop music sounded like.
- Ian Francis has a plan to save the Electric Cinema — Hope this come to fruition, not because of some nostalgic desire for a bygone age (like Ian I spent many hours in the 90s watching weird films there when it was a flea-pit) but because it’d be good to have an arts centre for cinema, run by the Flatpack festival, in the middle of Birmingham. (Only half the article is free but it carries the gist.)
- ‘The party was chilled until police sent in the riot squad’: when a Dorset free rave turned violent — I read the initial BBC report on this and noticed it was entirely from the police perspective. (Interesting that these things seem to come in 30 year cycles. 60s, 90s, 2020s?)
Watching:
Listening:
- In Our Time: Handel’s Messiah — As the young child of a classically trained singer I spent plenty of time bored in concert halls ignoring the rehearsals on stage but I do have a vivid memory of being blown away by the sheer power of the “Hallelujah” bit of Handel’s Messiah. After listening to this I put it on but it’s not the same on headphones. You need real people projecting it at you from their fleshy lungs.
Clicking:
- Snapmatch — Bascially the same mechanics as 368 Chickens albeit with a bit more strategy and less dumb luck.
Books on the go:
🎧 Finding Albion by Zakia Sewell [#######---] 82%
📖 Stone Junction by Jim Dodge [########--] 85%